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NC season off to a good start!
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Earl
King of Spring
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:49 pm Posts: 572 Location: Durham, NC
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NC season off to a good start!
Opening day of NC season, took my wife out trying to get her a bird. We set up in an area where there have been several longbeards, hens and jakes. After about 20 minutes two jakes came in to the call, then spotted a jake decoy we had set out. They circled it several times, half strutted, brushed up against it and basically put on a grand show before finally drifting off out of site. Terri couldn't decide if she should take one of the jakes, but after some conversation she agreed to pass and wait for an adult. We made several more series of calls, and about thirty minutes later I heard a turkey strutting. It was windy, so I had difficulty in pinning down his location. Turned out that he was behind us and to our right, dreaded place for a right hand shooter. I saw the bird and he wasn't moving much as he was on a little open flat. We called soft hoping he would move twenty yards or so to get in a position where he could see the decoy. Upon the call he broke and came directly at the tree we were sitting against, and spotted us as we were now silhouetted against the open field where the decoy was located. I had earlier maneuvered the gun around, and shot him at approximately 12 steps. He is 20lb 6oz, 1.25" spurs and double beards 10.5 and 5 inches. Bad feeling to shoot your wife's turkey, but a worse feeling to let him spook and walk off! Convinced Terri to hang tight, as there are several more adults using the same area. Within thirty minutes after the shot, two more jakes came in and saw the decoy, then were joined by the original two jakes that had earlier paid us a visit. They chased each other and put a show on before drifting out into the field. As we sat there watching these four jakes, a gobblers head appeared across the field about 150 yards from our location. The four jakes spotted the turkey shortly after we did and started yelping, gobbling, half strutting and took off towards the turkey in a very fast trot. They went over the hill out of site, a few loud aggressive purrs, wing flaps...then all was quite. Five minutes later the four jakes came back into site and headed back across the field to where they had been. Moments later, the gobbler head appeared across the field again, then started marching toward the four jakes. The gobbler turned out to be a very large jake with six of his buddies in tow. Once out in the field, they spotted our little jake decoy and trotted over to check it out, followed by the original four jakes. The eleven jakes then chased each other, had foot races, jumped at each other and tried to intimidate the little jake decoy to no avail. Finally they lost interest and wandered off feeding across the field. I went trough another series of calls, about five minutes later a nice longbeard appeared out of nowhere to our left headed directly to the source of the call. He spotted the decoy and the live jakes choosing to ignore all. He eventually got behind a large oak allowing us time to shift the gun in his direction. He strutted then stepped into an opening at approximately thirty yards. I whispered to Terri "when you have a clear shot with his head up, he is in range". At that instant the gun went off, the turkey crumpled, Terri's head flew back from the recoil and I got a busted lip!!! Terri's turkey is 21lb 8 oz, 1 inch spurs and 10.5 inch beard....happy she passed on the jakes!!! Great start to our NC season.
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 1:59 pm |
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Gobblenow
Co-Owner/Dog Feeder
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 10:20 am Posts: 3806
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now folks..this is a real turkey event...great story and I would say you can quit for the season as you have seen it all...superb ...
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:06 pm |
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Ryan Tucker
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Great story! Congrats!
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:55 pm |
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Max
King of Spring
Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 10:40 pm Posts: 1485 Location: Middlebrook VA
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Congrads guys!!!!!
_________________ "Son You've Got Three Choices in Life, Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way!" -Joe Rowe- http://www.jkttv.com
Max
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:03 pm |
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HODY
Boss Gobbler
Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 3:08 pm Posts: 1565 Location: Central VA
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Great Job Earl. Gotta love it when a plan really comes togehter. I would say the turkey gods gave you that busted lip for shooting Terri's Turkey..LOL
Great pic too, thanks for sharing!!
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:48 pm |
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Diablo
King of Spring
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:46 am Posts: 832 Location: SC by way of WV
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awesome sequence of events...loved the story!
congrats
_________________ "A man who insists on adherence to the facts when it comes to his hunting exploits, size of fish...abilities of his bird dog...is an untrustworthy fellow. A fine sporting liar is a gentleman & someone whose acquaintance should be cherished" R. Ruark.
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:51 pm |
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Big Bird
King of Spring
Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:08 pm Posts: 604 Location: Christiansburg, VA
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It does not get much better! Congratulations to both of you!
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:52 pm |
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Bird Dog
King of Spring
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:50 pm Posts: 2650 Location: central Va
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Great stuff! Sounds like the place is stocked for years to come.
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:17 pm |
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gobbstopper1946
Longbeard
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2005 10:21 pm Posts: 275
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What'a picture! Those are two really nice gobblers. Congrats to both of you .
GS...
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:20 pm |
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ridgerunner835
2 Year Old
Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 3:16 pm Posts: 67 Location: kingsport,tn
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congrats on both of you havesting a gobbler!!!!your very lucky to have a wife that enjoys turkey hunting with you
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Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:46 pm |
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FlatLand Gobbler
King of Spring
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 8:46 am Posts: 753 Location: Hampton, VA.
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I think I would have messed my pannts to have seen that many birds at one time. Awesome story, congratulations!
_________________ Ron
"Turkey hunting, when you knock all the feathers off it, is a game of infinite variables, played on a field of unlimited dimension, against an opponent who doesn't know the rules and wouldn't play by them if he did." ...Jim Spencer
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Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:15 pm |
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maytom
King of Spring
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 9:58 pm Posts: 349 Location: WNY
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Awesome hunt!!! Congrats to the both of you on scoring a double from the very same spot!!! Great pic as well!! WTG!!!
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Wed Apr 13, 2005 3:59 pm |
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ESTurkHunter
Jake
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:40 am Posts: 25 Location: Radford, Eastern Shore
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At my home that picture would go on the doubles wall, every time my family kills two in the same day we frame it and put them up there. Great Job!
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Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:55 pm |
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